Urban Outfitters Corporate Headquarters,PHILADELPHIA, PA

Facilities Services, HVAC, Building Automation Systems & Plumbing

FACILITIES SERVICES VALUE DELIVERED

More efficient corporate building operations,
preservation of a historic site, up-scale employee facilities, more
comfortable and productive environment.

FACILITIES SERVICES PROJECT OBJECTIVES

To centralize its headquarters staff,
administrative employees and design personnel from multiple locations
into a new corporate headquarters building.

HVAC, BAS & BUILDING SOLUTIONS

This fast-track project involved six buildings
with a total of 1.5-million square feet of space. The buildings are
part of the historic Philadelphia Naval Operations Center (the Navy
Yard) in south Philadelphia. Because it is a historic site, contractors
retained much of the building’s original materials and construction
features, enhancing the historical aesthetics of the open spaces.

The centerpiece of the project is Building
543. It has a 60-foot high center bay and houses offices, the corporate
data center and photography laboratories. There is also a gourmet
employee cafeteria, which is open to the public, as well as expansive
fern and bamboo gardens, two large 5,000-gallon koi ponds and a
contemplation area with an oversized imported Buddha. In addition, this
building contains the chiller plant, which has been designed and
decorated as an art form that can be viewed by employees and visitors
through a floor-to-ceiling glass curtain wall. An exercise facility
located above the chiller plant is viewable from the building’s ground
floor.

Fluidics role in the project began in the
fall of 2005, when it provided preliminary budgeting and value
engineering services. The company then constructed and installed a new
3,400-ton central plant with three chillers, plus all associated
equipment. The company also retrofitted and refurbished the heating,
ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) and plumbing systems in the five
additional buildings, and laid a new underground distribution system to
connect the central plant with its neighboring facilities. Using the
client’s information technology network, Fluidics interconnected all
buildings with a 10,000-point building automation system. Finally, to
provide both employee comfort and an attractive environment, the company
installed a unique radiant heating and cooling system under the floor
of Building 543’s central core, a task requiring 25,000 feet of plastic
tubing.

The result is a new corporate office building
that combines historic renovation with modern mechanical systems and
advanced building automation control technology. This increases energy
efficiency and employee productivity, while providing a pleasant and
appealing space with contemporary amenities that can be enjoyed by
company personnel and the public alike.

At the peak of the project, Fluidics staff
consisted of 75 steamfitters and plumbers, plus numerous subcontractors
and a full-time on-site safety manager.

CLIENT BACKGROUND

Founded in 1970, Urban Outfitters is a
leading clothing, footwear and housewares retailer. With headquarters in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the site of its first store, the company
has three major brands: Urban Oufitters, Anthropologie and Free People.
It employs approximately 7,500 people at more than 140 locations in the
United States, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom.